


Unnecessary Noise

by Katsuma



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: F/F, Flirting, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Post-Canon, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:13:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21981955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katsuma/pseuds/Katsuma
Summary: In which Lt. Hawkeye might have bitten off more than she could chew. This is a sequel of sorts to “When Ice Burns and Fire Melts”.
Relationships: Olivier Mira Armstrong/Riza Hawkeye
Comments: 3
Kudos: 57





	Unnecessary Noise

**Author's Note:**

> You guys seem to have enjoyed my first work about this pairing and since there aren’t many fics about them I decided to write a sequel of sorts. I hope you like it!

It was only the second day of joint practices between the soldiers of the Briggs Fortress and the Eastern Army, however Lieutenant Hawkeye was already beat. She knew better than to expect Major General Armstrong to hold back against her – or anyone, really – in a hand-to-hand fight, especially after being challenged the way she had been. Nevertheless, Lt. Hawkeye might have bitten off more than she could chew. 

“God, now that the adrenalin is gone it feels like I’ve been run over by a truck,” Riza said as Olivier carried her to the women’s locker room. The Briggs Fortress was _huge_ , and it would take them a few minutes walking to reach their destination.

“It looks like you’re a little out of shape, _Lt. Hawkeye_ ,” Olivier replied with a laugh. They’d agreed on using each other’s first names, but Olivier still insisted in calling her Lt. Hawkeye when she felt like teasing her.

“Oh, come on!” Riza playfully punched Olivier in the arm, noting immediately how toned it was. _Despite what she says, she must train a lot._

Allowing herself to look so vulnerable like that wasn’t something that Riza Hawkeye would normally do, but she somehow felt like it would be okay as long as she was with Olivier. Yes, it _was_ a bit embarrassing, and the fact that people wouldn’t stop staring at them didn’t help at all; still, Olivier seemed happy, and that was enough to wash the blonde sniper’s worries away… albeit momentarily.

As they approached the women’s locker room, Riza realized that it was already full of people. She had completely forgotten about the time, but that must’ve meant that practice was over. If that was the case, then she was screwed. Riza didn’t like to shower with others around.

When you enter the army, you have to get used to a lot of things. Above all else, people expect you to learn teamwork, which was why many activities were done in groups, including showering. Soldiers weren’t allowed to be picky nor did they have the time to worry about silly, unimportant things like body image and such, which was a problem. It’s not like Riza was embarrassed to show her body, but she _hated_ gossip. One would think that there would be no room for that in the army either, yet shitty people were everywhere.

“Major—I mean, Olivier,” Riza corrected herself, “is there any other locker room we could use? Preferably with way less people…”

“Why?” Olivier asked. “There should be another one not too far from here, but it’ll be packed as well. Practice just finished, after all,” she continued while putting Riza down.

“Goddammit.” Riza paused for a moment, pondering what she should tell Olivier. Sighing, she brought a hand to her face. “I just… want to avoid unnecessary noise, that’s all.”

_Unnecessary noise?_ Olivier didn’t really know what she was talking about, though Riza looked troubled. She wanted to question her further, but that could wait.

“Well… If you’d prefer a more private room, we could go to my quarters.” Riza’s expression instantly softened with relief. “I… wasn’t expecting to have anyone over so it’s a mess, but…”

Before she could finish, Riza grabbed her hand, smiling. “Let’s go then, _Major General Armstrong_.” Of course she wouldn’t waste an opportunity to tease her back. _“_ Lead the way.”

Riza’s smile was honestly the prettiest one Olivier had ever seen, and it hit a note. She was thankful that Riza was facing forward; otherwise she would’ve seen the small blush in the Ice Queen’s cheeks, and we couldn’t have that.

As they made their way to her quarters, Olivier could feel her stupid, erratic heartbeat. She was too old to not know what that meant, but she refused to acknowledge it. After all, the Ice Queen had no time to waste on silly games.

Stiffening herself, Olivier decided to do something about the awkward silence that’d followed afterwards and ask the question she hadn’t before.

“What did you mean when you said that you wanted to avoid unnecessary noise?” She asked as she reached for the door handle and her keys to let them in. “You’re not embarrassed about your body, are you?” Olivier continued as they entered her room, locking the door behind them. “’Cause if that were the case, I assure you that you have nothing to worry about. You’re beautiful”.

_God, what the hell was she even saying?_

“What? No!” Riza finally broke her silence, bursting out laughing. Olivier was sure that her cheeks must’ve been burning red by now. “I mean, thank you, but it’s not that. I guess… it would be easier to explain if I just showed it to you.” Then, Riza reached for the hems of her T-shirt, turning her back to Olivier as she stripped herself.

Olivier’s eyes went wide when the marks on Riza’s back were revealed.

“ _This_ … is the reason why I dislike showering with others,” she said as she pointed to her marks. “I don’t know if General Mustang told you, but it was my father who taught him Flame Alchemy. My father was the only one who knew all its secrets, which he engraved on my skin.”

“Why did he do that?” Olivier asked as she closed the distance between them, placing her hand against Riza’s back, caressing it.

“Well, you know how dangerous alchemy can be. Especially Flame Alchemy – it has an immeasurable destructive potential,” Riza explained. “We couldn’t allow it to fall on the wrong hands. We couldn’t risk it.”

“But surely there were other ways to protect it?” Olivier replied, visibly upset about Riza’s father’s decision. “Also, these are burn marks. Why would he bother engraving the results of his work here if he was going to destroy it?” She couldn’t believe it. How could a parent do that to their own child?

“Ah, the burn marks weren’t left by my father,” Riza paused. “They were left by General Mustang.”

“What?!” Olivier practically yelled, feeling the rage already building up inside of her. Before she could go flying to Mustang’s quarters and beat him to a pulp, however, Riza realized her mistake and promptly corrected herself.

“I mean, I asked him to do it. He did his best to burn only the most important bits so I wouldn’t have to suffer too much during the process.”

Olivier didn’t have to question her further. She knew that Riza was an Ishval Civil War veteran, meaning that she had witnessed firsthand the atrocities that had been committed against the people of Ishval – which she was also to blame for – and she knew that Mustang’s Flame Alchemy had been essential for them to achieve their past goal.

Instead of forcing Riza to dig deeper into her painful past, Olivier simply hugged her from behind. “I’m sorry that you had to go through that.”

Olivier’s embrace was warm; her strong arms made Riza feel safe in a way that she’d never felt before. Sniffing, Riza immediately tried to wipe the tears that insisted in rolling down her face. “Thanks.”

As she allowed herself to be comforted by Olivier, a sudden thought hit Riza like a bolt of lightning, leading her to push Olivier away. “Oh my God!” Riza exclaimed. “I must be stinking! I’m so sorry!”

Now it was Olivier’s turn to burst out laughing.

“Pfft... hahaha! After all that, _this_ is what you’re worried about?” She paused, struggling to breathe in between her laughs, “it’s not like I’m any better. We both sweated like pigs during our sparring session. It’s okay.” Olivier could swear that she saw a faint blush on Riza’s cheeks at that exact moment.

“You’re right,” Riza replied, still embarrassed by her sudden outburst. “I guess now would be a good moment for us to hit the shower, wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah, we should… _Wait_. Did you just say ‘us’?” Olivier looked a little shocked.

“Yes. I mean, I thought we were flirting?” Riza replied, confused. “Unless I’ve got it all wrong…”

“Oh, no. No, no, no. It’s true that I’m interested in you, I just wasn’t expecting you to…” Olivier trailed off, unable to form coherent thoughts.

“Oh my God, Olivier, you’re so obvious that I’d have to be as dense as General Mustang to not realize it.” Riza tried not to laugh, but she couldn’t help it.

Despite being rivals, they resembled each other a lot in certain aspects, but of course she would never tell her that.

“…Okay.” Olivier needed a moment to make sense of the situation, but it was all right. She could go along with that. 

“What are we waiting for then?”

Once again that day Olivier swept Riza off her feet, but this time she made her wrap her legs around her waist and pinned Riza against the wall so she could kiss her hungrily.

Olivier’s kiss could not be anything less than _ferocious_ , but Riza liked that. As they made their way to Olivier’s bathroom, Riza had one and one thought only: that tonight would be a really, really long night, and she was desperately looking forward to it.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, feedback is very much appreciated!


End file.
